The Postal Service helped mark Alabama’s bicentennial last week when the organization dedicated a stamp honoring the state.
The ceremony, held in Huntsville, featured stirring tributes from state leaders and USPS executives, including Acting Chief Human Resources Officer Isaac Cronkhite.
“Alabama has built a rich history grounded in the diversity, tradition and hard work of its people, and the natural beauty and wonderment of its land,” Cronkhite said. “Alabama has been pivotal in the growth of our nation to constantly strive to be a more perfect union.”
Alabama entered the union Dec. 14, 1819, becoming the 22nd state.
Among its cities are Mobile, Alabama’s only saltwater port city and home to America’s original Mardi Gras, and Huntsville, nicknamed “Rocket City” for its role in the U.S. space program. Birmingham, which has about 210,700 residents, is the largest city.
Alabama was at the center of many important events in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, which are memorialized in national historic monuments and sites across the state.
Alabama also boasts 11 national wildlife refuges, four national forests, a national nature preserve, a national military park and a national heritage area.
“We have an incredibly diversified state [that] we should all be very proud of,” Del Marsh, the state senate’s president pro tem, told attendees at the Feb. 23 ceremony.
Other participants included U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks; Mac McCutcheon, speaker of the state house; and Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle.
The Alabama Statehood stamp features a striking image of a sunset taken on the Pulpit Rock Trail in Cheaha State Park. The stamp is available at Post Offices and usps.com.
